paulcampillo.com

Alien encounter

Last December, near Travis Air Force Base, my brother Antonio had an experience he would never forget. As he watched the unusual activity of strange white and orange lights in the sky, he realized that he was seeing something really out of the ordinary.

It’s not odd to see strange activities in the sky near Travis, it’s been going on since we were kids. But as he continued to watch, he became more and more afraid.

Those must be UFO’s!

After watching the lights closely, Antonio began to think – what if they’re warning us? Wait a minute. What if they strike? What if…

What would you have done? Would you stick around for scientific purposes, in awe of the strange scene in the air?

Or would you think science-fiction movies, and all the alien attacks, abductions, and weird encounters with humans?

Antonio thought science-fiction. As helicopters took to the air near Travis, he didn’t want to stick around for an unnecessary provocation. It was time to go. He got in his truck and drove to the next town, what he felt was a safe distance away.

After playing some pool to pass the time and bring some normality to his world, the memory returned. As he drove back home, the lights were gone, and the thought occurred to him that he couldn’t be the only one to see IT. Someone else must’ve seen this, too.

He scoured the internet for any reported sightings in the area, and found nothing. A week would pass before he told me about what happened. After recounting the events, I decided to check UFO websites for potential sightings, and found 3 of them.

One in Willows, one in Napa, and one in Fairfield. All sightings reported around the same time, in the same region.

It just so happened that somebody in Fairfield “caught” the action on his cell phone. I put “caught” in quotes because his camera work is not the best in the world, BUT this guy’s emotional reaction to what he saw that night is stunning.

As Antonio watched this person’s video on Youtube, he got the chills again, and told me that his reaction was very similar.

Here’s the video:

Real understanding

My brother’s reaction to run for cover seems justified, but at the time he explained it to me, the only thing I could think was, “why didn’t you stick around?”

I damn near heckled him. Don’t you realize what this means? How many people get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event? No matter what he said, I couldn’t get it.

Self-preservation trumps history, was his reasoning.

Ridiculous, I thought.

Looking back, it’s hard to dispute his decision now, because now I’ve had time to reflect on the whole scenario.

An alien encounter is entering a brand new realm for just about anybody. I’m sure after getting over the initial shock, I’d be thinking, why are these aliens here? There are only two possible reasons: good or bad, and if you happen to run across ET, are you really gonna think good?

Nope. You’re gonna think something like:

They’re far more advanced than we are.

They’re here to kill us and invade our planet.

I don’t wanna get beamed aboard their ship.

I don’t want to be some alien’s lab rat or sex slave.

We don’t stand a chance…

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

Humans love to compare. I was telling him what I would’ve done if I was in his shoes. The reality is, I couldn’t be in his shoes, I’m in mine. And if I were in the same exact situation, what would I actually do? Whatever I imagine I would do is just that – imagination.

I do this kind of imagining all the time, even if I’m only doing it in my head.

Oh, why did you say that? You shoulda did this, did that, and then finished with THIS…

If [insert person’s name] does this, then I’ll say this, and that, and this and that….

You had the opportunity of a lifetime, why didn’t you do this, and that, and this….?

Life just doesn’t happen this way. You can’t plan for everything, especially when RANDOM walks into your life. When reality hits, when the lights go on and it’s time to perform, it’s a totally different situation. To know something intellectually is NOT real knowing.

Instead of thinking what I would’ve done, next time I’m just going to listen deeply and ask questions, and do my best to put myself in that situation.

It’s just better to listen, support, and attempt to understand than it is to show-off what I know, or worse, demean or trivialize someone’s choices and decisions. I may not criticize someone openly, but I still think it, and I have no basis.

What would you do if you thought aliens were close enough to have direct contact with you? Would you stick around or get the heck out of dodge?

I’d like to think I’d stick around to see what’s up. In reality, I’d fear for my life and hit the boondocks.